Bill Belichick: NFL's Helmet Rule Changes Won't Impact Patriots Defense

New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick isn't concerned about how the NFL's new helmet rule will affect his defense.

"From my standpoint, there's really...it's not a change for us, for our coaching staff," Belichick told WEEI on Tuesday, according to USA Today's Lorenzo Reyes. "We've never taught tackling with the crown of your helmet, putting your head down, leaning your body forward in that type of position. I don't think fundamentally that's a good position to be in. It's not effective.

"We've always tackled with our head up, eyes open, head back, so we can see what we hit. That's the only way I've ever coached. If we do it that way, we'll be within the rules."

The NFL's new rule, which has drawn the ire of players around the league throughout the preseason, states 15-yard penalties will be assessed when "a player lowers his head to initiate and make contact with his helmet against an opponent."

According to ESPN.com's Chris Mortensen, the league "is having daily dialogue about the application in preseason games" and plans to "assemble an updated video tutorial that will be distributed to game officials, coaches and players once the final preseason games are played and in time for teams preparing for their regular-season openers."

To date, the helmet foul has been assessed 51 times across the first two weeks of the preseason. According to Reyes, all but eight were called against defensive players.